Lukas Märtens Follows Up 400 Free WR With Another Journey To 3:40 At German Championships
Lukas Märtens posted the third-fastest 400 free of his career as he followed up his WR with victory in 3:40.61 at the German Championships in Berlin.
The Olympic champion took down Paul Biedermann’s supersuited world record last month in Stockholm when he stopped the clock in 3:39.96, a standard that had stood since the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Lukas Märtens: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
On Thursday he went 3:46.16 in prelims, one of two men inside 3:47 with Sven Schwarz posting 3:46.71. Märtens returned in the evening and had closed to within 0.56 of his WR at the 350m mark with his final 50 of 27.66secs 0.09 slower than that in the Swedish capital as he touched first in 3:40.61.
That was his third-swiftest, bettered only by his world record and 3:40.33 from last year’s German Championships. He now owns eight of the top 10 times in German history joined by Biedermann and his former global standard of 3:40.07 and Oliver Klemet with his 3:42.81 PB from 2024.
Schwarz didn’t appear for the final and it was Klemet who took silver in 3:40.33, 0.03 slower than his 3:40.30 in the world record race in Stockholm, coming just days after he won the men’s 3km knockout sprints at the World Aquatics Open Water Cup. Florian Wellbrock was third home in 3:46.44.
The meet is another opportunity for athletes to qualify for the World Championships in Singapore with German policy dictating they could book a spot on the team at any World Aquatics-approved competition from 7 April to 4 May.
Isabel Gose was fifth in the women’s 400 free at Paris 2024, months after bronze at the World Championships in Doha. She led from the start with Maya Werner for company in the first half of the race before Gose pulled away to claim victory in 4:03.65, 1.51secs off her national record of 4:02.14 set at La Defense Arena last year. Werner went 4:06.04 to cement her spot as the second fastest woman in Germany over eight lengths before the qualification window shuts. Lea Boy, better known for her open water prowess and winner of the women’s 3k sprints in Ibiza last weekend, was third in 4:10.49.
Angelina Köhler: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Luca Nik Armbruster was just 0.02 shy of the German 100 fly record as he went inside the cut in 51.21. It was a PB for Armbruster who rose to second in the all-time German rankings, his time topped only by Steffen Deibler’s 51.19 from 2013. Josha Salchow was also inside the QT in 51.28 with Simon Bucher third in 51.77.
Angelina Köhler went 56.60 in the women’s 100 fly prelims before taking the title in 56.61. The 24-year-old is the reigning world champion and set the German record of 56.11 in the semis in Doha last year. Yara Fay Riefstahl (59.57) and Alina Baievych (1:01.16) joined Köhler on the podium.
Cedric Büssing stated his case for a ticket to Singapore in the men’s 400IM where he stopped the clock in 4:13.56 while Noelle Benkler won the women’s in 4:44.02.
Cornelius Jahn came from 0.14 down at the turn to overhaul Ole Braunschweig and claim the men’s 100 back title in 54.30 to 54.67. Lise Seidel won the women’s 100 back in 1:00.93. Neither the men’s nor women’s winners were inside the cut.
